Furniture brace



May 1927" s. G. BOLIN FURNITURE BRACE Filed March 7. 1925 11V VEN TORPatented May 31, 1927.

P T-Eur orrice.

SVEN G. BOLIN, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

. runmrunn BRAGE.

Application filed Hatch 7, 1925. Serial No. 13,863.

My invention relates to table braces and more particularly to a bracefor clamping the legs of a table to the rails, the principal object ofthe invention being to provide a simple brace for rigidly holdingthemembers of a table together and which may be applied with ordinarytools.

Iam aware of the fact that other braces have been devised for fasteningthe legs of a table to the rails, but in all of them it is necessary toprovide special tools for groovbraces can be applied.

In the present construction l. have provided a brace having speciallyshaped and reinforced fingers or hooks which are adapted to en age inround holes in the rails such as would be made by the ordinary wood bit,in such a manner as to obtain the maximum strength from the wood railand at the same time derive the. greatest rigidity from the joint whenthe parts are assembled.

With this and other objects in mind I have constructed the improvedbrace which willhereinafter be more fully described and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, wherein v Fig. 1, is a perspective view ofthe traming of mtable showing my improved braces in each of the fourcorners.

Fig. 2, is an enlarged detail of one corner of the framing with a braceinposition.

Fig. 3, is a perspective view of the brace.

Fig. 4, is a similar view of the opposite side of the same.

Fig. 5, is an enlarged plan section of the brace taken on the line 55 ofFig. 3, showing its relation to the rails and to the leg of a table.

Fig. 6, is a detail view showing the manner in which the hook engagesthe hole.

Fig. 7, is a diagrammatic view illustrating the points of engagementbetween the hook and the hole. I

Fig. 8, is a similar view developed into a' horizontal plane.

Referring more in detail to the parts 2- 1 designates the leg of a tableand 2 and 3 adjacent side rails. Near each end of the rails are airedholes 4-4 and 5-5 which may be rilled with an ordinary wood bit to adepth of about half way through the rail, in order. not to mar the outerfinish, and which are preferably spaced the same dising or mortising therails or legs before the tance from the ends thereof. The ends of therails are squared oil and adapted to abut the angularly disposed faces 6and 7 of the leg 1 in such a manner that when the rails are finallyclamped in'position the rail ends and leg surfaces fit closely together.

Extending between the adjacent ends of the rails is a brace 8 comprisinga .rectangular sheet metal body 9, struck outwardly in the center toprovide a trussed boss 10 having an aperture 11 throu h which a screw 12may pass into the tab e leg 1. The screw I prefer to use consists of awood screw 13 driven firmly into the table leg and a body 13 so threadedas to take the nut 14;, itbeing apparent that the screw remains in theleg and that the nut can be drawn tightly against the 'trussed bosswithout danger of rupturing the brace.

Folded laterally at opposite sides of the brace and at approximatelyright angles to the body 9 are longitudinal ribs 15 and 1 6 whichfurther strengthen the body and which have angular ends 17 and 18 cut atan angle of 45 degrees to the body portion and 90 degrees to each other,so that when the brace is in position between the ends of the rails theangular ends abut the inner faces of the rails and tend to hold them atright angles to one another.

Struck from each end of the body portion 9 are hooks 19-49 and 20-20which are bent at approximately right angles to the body and at degreesto the angular edges 17 and 18. The edges 21 and 22 of each hook areinclined toward the body of the brace so that the points of the hooksare narrower 4-4: and 5-5 at an angle of 45 degrees.

It is therefore apparent that the said hooks bear substantiallyuniformly on the walls of the holes. To illustrate this point clearly Ihave shown two diagrams in Figs. 7 and 8, the first showing a hook 19entering a hole 4 which, by way of illustration, is indicated by singlelines as a cylinder; thesecond figure showing the line of contactdeveloped into a flat plane.

It is a geometrical principle that a plane cutting a cylinder at anangle to the axis produces an elliptical curve. Therefore if a plane ispassed through the cylindrical hole at an angle of degrees, as forexample at the point where the finger lies, an elliptical curve 26 willbe formed, with the least curved portions lying adjacent the taperededges 21 and, 22 of the fingers. However the edges 21 and 22 are eachstraight, therefor the extreme points of said edges will cut into thewood at both ends as clearly shown in the diagrams, thus forming apractical and effective grip that lends torsional qualities to thesystem of parts.

In applying the brace, the legs and rails are prepared as heretoforedescribed, with the screw 12 in the proper position in the leg. Therails are then held up to the leg and the brace applied by slipping thescrew 12 through the hole 11 in the brace and the hooks 19-19 and 20-20"into the holes 44 and 55. The nut 14 is then screwed in position anddrawn down tightly against the trussed boss 10 with a wrench. The

tightening action thus accomplished, causes ward the ra1ls,-therefor itis apparent that as the brace is drawn tighter, and the friction betweenthe ends of the rails and the angular surfaces 6 and 7 of the legincreases,

that the hooks 1919' and 20-20 will be driven ti htly into positionwithin the-holes 4-4 an 5-5, and that the angular edges 17 and 18 willbe drawn snugly against the inner faces of the rails and with the hooksgive great torsional strength to the joint.

When the nut 14 has been tightened, each of the spherical shapedreinforcement ribs 24 are given a firm blow with a hammer thus insuringa perfect seat of the fingers within the holes as well as the angularends 17 and 18 against the face of the rails, after which the nut 14 isgiven a final turn to complete the joint.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new therein anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In furniture construction, thecombination with a leg and a pair of angularly related rails abuttingsaid leg, the rails having cylindrical holes formed laterall therein, ofa brace having a body portion isposed between said rails, hooks on saidbody portion positioned within said holes, said hooks having converginglateral edges engaging opposite side walls of said cylindrical holes inangular relation to the axes thereof, and securing means efi'ective todraw said brace toward said leg.

2. A furniture brace having, in combination, a body portion, andoppositely disposed angular hooks on said body portion, said hooks beingformed with converging lateral edges adapted to engage the side wall ofa cylindrical hole inangular relation to the axis of said hole, andhaving reinforcing ribs extending along said hooks and into the adjacentportion of said body.

3. A furniture brace having, in combination, a body portion, andoppositely disposed angular hooks on said ody portion, said hooks beingformed with lateral edges adapted to engage the side wall of acylindrical hole in angular relation to the axis of said hole, saidedges converging toward the point of the hooks.

SVEN G. BOLIN.

